Hawaii's iconic 550-year-old Hōlei Sea Arch collapses into the ocean
The famous Hōlei Sea Arch in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, a lava rock formation roughly 550 years old, has collapsed into the Pacific. Park officials had warned for years that the structure was unstable.
The Hōlei Sea Arch, a 90-foot-tall (27.4m) lava rock formation in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, has collapsed into the Pacific Ocean after standing for about 550 years. The exact timing of the collapse is unknown: the National Park Service (NPS) said the arch was still visible from the coastline on 23 September but was gone by 27 September.
NPS said the coastline around the arch had shown signs of instability for years, and the agency had already warned in 2021 that the formation would eventually crumble. The arch is believed to have fallen while the park was temporarily closed due to Tropical Storm Nolo last weekend.
Located at the end of Chain of Craters Road on Hawaii's "Big Island," the arch was a popular and widely photographed tourist attraction. NPS noted that earthquakes during the 2018 Kīlauea volcano eruption and summit collapse had damaged nearby cliffs, contributing to the arch's eventual demise, which it described as the latest transformation of the park's remote, rugged coastline.
In January 2020, new cracks and instability forced the park to close the original viewing area near the arch; a safer viewing spot opened a few months later. Later that year, waves from a tropical storm broke off part of the rock at the arch's base.
As early as 2021, the park service described the arch as beautiful but temporary, with a limited lifespan, noting it would eventually crumble into the sea while new arches would form elsewhere as the cliff slowly shifts inland over time.
News of the collapse drew a large response on social media, with thousands of people sharing memories and photos of visiting the arch.
